Hating Capitalism for the sake of it

Hatred of soft drinks companies is growing with pace at the moment, as everyone with a vested interest and a desire for taxpayers cash, jumps on the obesity bandwagon.

Most of the groups will tell us that these companies are evil because they force the kiddies to consume sugary drinks, when all children should be drinking is tasteless water

But what happens when companies meet consumer demand and produce tasteless water? It's not just about obesity, it's really about anti capitalism and fighting big business, so even if we want kids to drink water, we can still hate big businesses who bottle water. After all, the kiddies can always drink tap water

Nestlé Makes Billions Bottling Water It Pays Nearly Nothing For

The bulk of the article simply describes how the bottling process works, while making it all sound very scary and making the workers sound like something from an East Asian sweat shop. It's pretty rubbish, so I won't bother quoting it all. You can read it if you want to

This is the bit that gripped my shit

The Michigan operation is only one small part of Nestlé, the world’s largest food and beverage company. But it illuminates how Nestlé has come to dominate a controversial industry, spring by spring, often going into economically depressed municipalities with the promise of jobs and new infrastructure in exchange for tax breaks and access to a resource that’s scarce for millions.

The company provides jobs and infrastructure. In exchange for this, they ask for tax breaks and access to spring water. The anti-capitalist nut job sees this as a bad thing. Presumably they think Nestle should be forced to open their plant by the Government and not be given any tax breaks

And the idea that water is a resource that is scarce for millions is just laughable. Nestle aren't going into famine areas and removing water that subsistence farmers need to irrigate their tiny crops, they're going into areas when water is simply pissing out of the ground by gallons per second

There are the usual costs of doing business, including transportation, infrastructure, and salaries. But Nestlé pays little for the product it bottles

Socialism in a nutshell. The author of this anti-capitalist crap wants the local government to take control of the water and force the bottling company to pay for it, putting up the price of the water to the consumer

What has actually happened is Capitalism. The bottling company has created jobs and wealth in the local area, after doing a deal for access to the water and a freedom to do business that won't stifle it too much

If the local Governments said no, or tried to charge over the odds, the companies would probably go somewhere else, to another locality that they could do business with

The socialist who wrote this article probably believes that Nestle should be forced to create jobs for the locals and pay tax for the Government, but at the same time, not be allowed to open a bottling plant in case some farmer in Sub Saharan Africa needs it

Wibble